Developers are in for a bit of a rough ride if they are to meet government standards for sustainable homes.

The Code for Sustainable Homes (CSH), which aims for all new homes to be zero-carbon by 2016, is currently not mandatory, but the Government is reviewing the option to make it so from April 2008.

This must surely be good news for the environment: stopping the ice caps from melting is, after all, the very point of the zero carbon agenda.

But new research from Savills wonders whether developers will be able to deliver the CO2 targets, and, more to the point, whether Joe Bloggs buying a new home will be willing to foot the bill.

Which leads on to the next question: will buyers be prepared to pay more for a completely kitted out carbon no-go home?

Savills found that homeowners are certainly eco-savvy, but not necessarily keen on the eco-medicine being prescribed by the Government. In a nut-shell: they're all for it if it saves them money, but less enthusiastic if they have to pay more..

As the report notes: "The importance that occupiers attach to various green features seems to be largely related to saving money rather than saving the planet."

Energy saving features were rated as important by 74 per cent, low running costs by 77 per cent and good thermal insulation by 84 per cent.

But when it came down to whether buyers would pay more for these green enhancements the figures melted away like ... well, like icebergs on the fringes of Antarctica.

Energy saving features were the biggest draw, as around 25 per cent of buyers conceded they would part with more cash for these.

Clearly, developers are facing something of a dilemma if they are to invest in carbon-neutral housebuilding that will carry overheads that cannot be passed onto the buyer.

While lower levels of sustainable living have been estimated by English Partnerships to average between £3,000 and £6,000 per dwelling, the holy grail of carbon-free homes, level 6, could pile on a potential £26,000 to £36,000 to building costs.

The Government is waiving stamp duty on zero-carbon homes up to £500,000 starting from October to help offset building costs. But things will be far tighter at the top end where the stamp duty exemption will be capped at £15,000.

So there's a lot of horse-trading to be done between the Government, the developers and homeowners on who will shoulder the costs. The alternative is that the specs for truly zero-carbon homes are downgraded – watch this space.

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Micro-chipped bins

Families have been warned they would be charged more for their rubbish under plans unveiled for a series of "pay-as-you-throw" schemes.
Wheelie bins with microchips that weigh the contents, pre-paid waste sacks and charges based on the size of bins were all suggested by the Local Government Association in an attempt to encourage more recycling.
The association said that using a "pay-as-you-throw" incentive to encourage recycling was backed by two in three, based on a survey it commissioned.

But opponents cast doubt on the poll and claimed the schemes could cost taxpayers around £20 a month, leading to more fly-tipping.

The first of the three proposals put forward by the LGA is for a system in which householders buy pre-paid rubbish sacks of different sizes, aimed at urban areas where wheelie bins are impractical.

The second would be the use of microchips in wheelie bins which would allow the amount of rubbish to be weighed as it was loaded on to the dust cart. Residents would then be billed for the amount of waste they created.

The third option for councils would be a scheme in which householders choose the size of the wheelie bin they use, based on how much rubbish they think they will generate, and are charged accordingly.

The LGA described the plans as "save as you throw" and pledged not to use them as a stealth tax to raise extra money.
But the association warned that taxpayers would bear the brunt of fines of up to £3 billion which will be imposed on councils over the next four years if they did not meet European targets for reducing the amount of waste which ends up in landfill.

England currently recycles around 27 per cent of its household refuse, compared to more than 50 per cent in Austria and Germany.

Its survey of 1,028 people by Ipsos Mori found 64 per cent of people either "strongly supported" or "tended to support" a system in which they paid a reduced council tax rate and were charged directly for the amount of rubbish they produced.

Cllr Paul Bettison, chairman of the LGA’s environment board, said: "If councils introduce save-as-you-throw schemes it will be to promote recycling, not generate extra cash through an extra stealth tax.
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Barclays and HSBC happy with HIPs

Two big mortgage lenders, HSBC and Barclays, have denied that they are unhappy with the recently introduced Home Information Packs (HIPs).

The packs require sellers to provide information such as planning permission and copies of title deeds to buyers.

Law society
Despite these assurances, the Law Society renewed its warnings about HIPs that contain personal searches of council information.

It said solicitors, when acting for home buyers, should always point out to their clients that official searches provided a higher level of protection than personal searches, if any of the information in them turned out to be wrong.

"If you are buying a house for half-a-million pounds and you are mortgaging yourself to the hilt for the next 25 years, you can either have a search carried out by the council staff, on which you can rely, or one provided by someone you don't know - the search company," said Paul Marsh, vice-president of the Law Society.

"There is a degree of risk between the two but the buyer's solicitor has a search thrust on them now," he added.

The Law Society said it would like lenders to specify exactly which personal search companies they would be happy with, to remove a lawyer's current responsibility to vouch for a search company's work.

Conveyancing
The local authority search has been a compulsory feature of the conveyancing process since 1925.

It involves a buyer, or their solicitor or other representative, asking a set of standard questions about a property, covering local authority plans for the street or area, and any planning permission granted for the building or neighbouring ones.

This should also show up any restrictions on the way the property can be used, for instance the existence of smoke control orders, conservation areas, tree preservation orders, and any financial charges where the council could recover money owed to it.

The aim is to make sure that the buyer does not get a nasty surprise once they have bought the house or flat.
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Building straw houses

Fuelled by a growing demand for environmentally friendly buildings, hemp, wheat, flax and other grains are now being touted as emerging raw materials in the construction industry.

The merits of these so-called "biofibres" and their applications in Canada, the United Kingdom and other parts of the world was the basis of an international symposium that wrapped up in Kingston yesterday.

The group's tests look into what type of fibre bale, including flax, hemp or wheat, works best. They're also looking at what types of plaster, including clay or cement, applied over top of the bale, are more durable. They're even looking at the placement of the bales - flat or on edge - to find out which design is more stable.
United Kingdom-based Mike Duckett spoke about his company's work with hemcrete, an environmentally friendly building material that combines hemp and lime. It's already used in various parts of Europe.

His presentation revealed the environmental and practical benefits of using the material, including the fact that it's sustainable, lightweight, a good insulator, airtight, easy to use, and fire and pest resistant. The material also absorbs carbon dioxide, one of the greenhouse gases.

Duckett said that each house constructed with hemcrete walls, roof and floors could reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 50 tonnes.
Hemcrete, which costs roughly the same as conventional building material, has been used to construct homes, office space, a warehouse and a theatre in Europe.

A building in England that has been touted as the most environmentally friendly warehouse in Europe doesn't require an air-conditioning system because the hemcrete material makes it possible to regulate the temperature inside at 14 C.
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